Neurodiversity & PDA Family Life

10 Jul

A Podcast worth sharing

WHOLE PARENT Podcast – Mary Van Geffen Parenting a SPICY One – Book https://youtu.be/0Ar3SJ81q0w?si=fuu4vLdf9-lewdL1 The episode centers on parenting coach Mary Van Geffen and her framework for understanding and supporting “spicy kids” — children whose intensity, sensitivity, or oppositional energy

30 May

Driving From the Rearview: A Stoic Field Note on Discernment, Pressure, and the Work of Staying Human

The Moment I Didn’t Want to Have (Temperance) The moment that stopped me wasn’t dramatic. It was my 10‑year‑old asking, “Can you get me a drink?” A simple request. A normal one. The kind a kid her age should feel

24 May

PDA – An Alternative Distro Among the Ecosystem

PDA isn’t a flaw. It’s a different operating system — one I didn’t choose, but had to learn. When I stopped forcing compatibility and started honoring its logic, the world softened. River stopped fighting me. Forest stopped feeling hostile. Belonging began.

09 May

Rethinking Workplace Norms: Key Takeaways from Professor Sol Smith’s Session on Neurodiversity

Professor Sol Smith joined our ERG this week for a focused session on neurodiversity in the workplace. His presentation challenged the assumption that employees should think, communicate, and perform in standardized ways. Instead, he framed inclusion as the work of

20 Apr

A very unplanned post today – but the subject matter as a father of kiddos – this haunts me

Charlize Theron – Retelling her lived experience – weapons/violence as a 15 year old girl As a Dad and ever observant – this hits hard Walking through the Browning Museum in Ogden on Saturday, I felt the old muscle memory

20 Apr

Stoic Discipline in a Neurodivergent House

Attitude when things are going well and ego wants to take credit. Both handles keep you from grabbing the wrong thing when life swings wide.

14 Apr

A post during Neurodiversity Awareness Month

Rabbit hole post – A recent Stand4Kind post talked about the power of simple mental‑health check‑ins — naming what’s happening inside before it spirals. That’s what this practice has become for us: a way to help our kids map their

28 Mar

Scarcity Loop – Practice Mindfulness

Step 3: Practice Mindfulness In Chapter 6 of Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter, titled Step 3: Practice Mindfulness, Easter emphasizes mindfulness as a powerful tool to break free from the “scarcity loop”—a cycle of craving and consumption driven by our

27 Mar

PDA – post – generalized education track – unschooling, hybrid – graduation

Our path navigating secondary Education in Utah with an ASD kiddo with a PDA profile We ended up following what I can only describe as an unnatural version of unschooling inside the Utah public school system. Not because we were